I work out my mind so you can work out your arms!

My mind never stops working. I actually like it this way but sometimes it prevents me from sleeping.....so a long time ago I came up with a nighttime activity that I can do at bedtime to get me to relax so I can go night night.

My ritual starts by me slipping into something comfortable.....clearing my mind......letting my mind drift into a place where I can fantasize on how to innovate the current marketing for industries who I don't think are doing a very good job.

Yes I know that was a long way to travel for a simple masturbation joke.

Anyway I spent some time thinking up ways to re-invent the Sports Club/Fitness Club industry marketing because in my opinion this is an industry that could use some new ideas.

The goal of this post is not to "out" any one company and I am in no way pointing fingers or saying all fitness clubs employ these lazy practices but a bunch do and the perception of this industry is (in my opinion) is largely negative and that is why this was a fun little project for my brain.

To truly make a difference you need to change the way people think of a health club by making it a place people want to join, tell their friends, and hang out long after their work out is finished.

I would do this by changing all the direct mail pieces with the stock photography of frogs and generic people (a common practice with the local clubs in this area) and re work all the collateral to reflect the personalities of each unique club....the direct mail pieces should be targeted to the neighborhoods in and around the clubs and the collateral should reflect this. Make people feel they are hand selected and not a singular piece for the entire chain with multiple locations listed on the materials and drop all the questionable offers of $XX per month for the first 10 people who join only to have people show up and find out it is really three times that amount.

I see the key to making this great is by building a community.

If you create an environment where people look forward to coming and staying at your clubs you will empower the membership to boast about the clubs to the point where they are an extension of the sales team.

This is easy to type and not so easy to pull off but I see doing fun regular events like movie nights , Nintendo Wii Tennis Tournaments, Speed Dating, Surprise Birthday Parties for members on their B-Day and other member oriented events you create a feeling of club and community that will get members talking....and hopefully to non members.

Every marketing plan I dream up has a healthy dose of Guerrilla activity. I love Guerrilla stuff and done well is so over the top effective in getting people talking about your service and company....an example of a guerrilla campaign for a health club would be to have people doing barbell curls on the subway in rush hour...not saying anything or selling anything...just lifting/curling while wearing a club t-shirt.

I have an even better "WOM" idea but I am keeping it for myself since it can be used in a bunch of different ways.

.....and this is where I fell asleep........but to quickly finish the concept idea I think there are opportunities online like a Facebook Exercise Tracker App. and a whole whack of other lead generation tactics so they can dump the "win a free membership" ballot boxes that populate convenience stores all over the city.

Anyway if you are in a position to execute on these ideas I would be happy to share the rest of my ideas.......heck you could even hire me to be a consultant!

I await your call

Saul